Fake It ‘Til You Make It: Lessons in Raising Your Game

When we read this piece in The New York Post, we realized it could possibly apply to a lot of people. A reader wrote to the mailbox and asked if you ever thought you were a fraud at work and felt paranoid that other people knew as well that you’re merely skating by and don’t know what you’re doing.

Well, the word paranoid popped out at us thinking this person may have other issues altogether but maybe you feel like a fish out of water, sitting in a meeting with execs wondering how did I get here in the first place? Maybe that’s not such a bad feeling to have?

Sometimes that’s the key to growing. Fake it ’til you make it — raising your career to the next level by immersing yourself in situations and jobs that bring you forward, not take you backward.

Even if it’s not job-related maybe it’s social related like saying yes to a golf outing with colleagues even though you’re not that great at golf but want to hang out and be social. Part of growing involves a sense of stepping outside the comfort zone and the other part involves knowing how much more there is to learn/how much you still don’t know and that’s the beauty in expanding one’s career.

In the piece, Gregory Giangrande, chief human resources officer at Time, Inc. writes in the piece, “Listen, a measure of insecurity and self-doubt is healthy…and common. For many successful people, it fuels their drive to constantly prove themselves and perform at a high level.”

He adds, “But if you’re so consumed with self-doubt that it impairs your ability to perform up to your capability, then you’re not a fraud, but you may need a professional to help you realize your potential.”

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